Turkmen Epos: Origin and Modern Conditions
The epic branch is one of the central directions of the oral musical and poetic heritage of the Turkmens. The carriers of the epic tradition in Turkmenistan are the bagshy-dessanchy, the modern heirs of the ancient art of ozans. The centers of epic storytelling are located in the Dashoguz and Mary regions, they differ significantly from each other in terms of repertoire, genre and performance features. The main genres in the repertoire of bagshy- dessanchy are the monumental cycles of epic tales “Gokut ata” and “Gorogly”, numerous author’s and folk dessans, legends with music, as well as musical transcriptions of literary works of Turkmen classical poets. The structure of epic genres is based on the alternation of poetic and prose sections. Poetic lines are sung in the form of songs, and prose is recited in a performing manner characteristic of each school. Songs determine the development of musical dramaturgy in dessans. The performances of the bagshy-dessanchy represent a consistent movement towards the climax, where each stage of the narrative is characterized by a certain type of epic songs.
